1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices for administering medicinal fluids to patients and, more particularly, to a device for releasably carrying and selectively vibrating a syringe needle during the administration of medication to a patient.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The administration of some type of medication to patients is useful, if not necessary, in many different situations, and especially during the course of many different medical and dental procedures. Medications can be administered in a variety of different ways, such as orally, by inhalation, or by injection through a needle. Injections are in many cases the preferred means of delivery due to the short time lapse between the injection of the medication and the resulting benefit to the patient. The benefit can be realized almost instantly because the medication can be injected directly to the desired area, or may be directly injected intravenously into the patient's bloodstream. This can be contrasted with medication taken orally where there is typically a substantial delay while the ingested medication is fully digested and delivered to the desired site within the patient's body.
Injections can be of many types, such as intravenous, intramuscular and infiltration. In addition to the overall preference for injections, the administration of medication to trauma patients by means of an injection is a necessity in situations where time is critical to saving the patient's life.
Although the injection of medication has many benefits and efficiencies, it is, in most cases, one of the least preferred method for the patient to receive medication. In the administration of most injections, there is some associated pain and discomfort caused by piercing of the skin by the needle and by forcing medication into the tissue. As a result of being subjected over the years to many such painful and uncomfortable injections, many patients harbor a fear of, and apprehension toward, such injections. Some patients refuse to receive injections, while others simply delay, or altogether avoid, seeking medical or dental attention rather than face the possibility of being subjected to an injection. In addition, many small children have a much lower threshold of pain than adults. Thus, what might be deemed merely an uncomfortable injection for an adult can be viewed as dehabilitatingly painful by a child, thus adding to the difficulty in effectively and efficiently administering an injection.
These factors are compounded in the practice of dentistry, and particularly oral surgery, where multiple applications may be required, many of which must be administered in locations that are difficult to access, such as for the mandibular site. Studies have proven that a great part of the patient's apprehension stems from the fear aroused when he or she observes the physician, after the needle has penetrated to the desired location, reaching for and depressing the plunger to eject the medication.
Thus, there has been a long-standing need for a device which may safely and effectively reduce the pain and discomfort associated with an injection of medication and thus substantially reduce the fear of and resistance to such injections. The conventional method, still widely practiced today, is to simply fill a conventional syringe with the medication to be delivered to the patient, apply a topical anesthetic, pierce the patient's skin with a needle carried at one end of the syringe to access tissue or a vein, and eject the medication through the needle into the tissue or vein. This procedure produces much of the fear and apprehension experienced by patients because there is no alleviation of the pain and discomfort associated with either the penetration of the needle or injection of the medication. For injections forced under pressure of the syringe plunger into the tissue, such as in the patient's gum area, much of the pain stems from ballooning of the medication in the tissue adjacent the needle tip. Thus, there exists a need for a syringe device that will accelerate the rate at which the ballooned medication is migrated into the tissue for absorption thereby easing the associated pain.
A device proposed in attempt to reduce the pain and discomfort associated with injections includes a vibrating contact element for placement against the skin of the patient adjacent the area to receive the injection. Vibration of the contact element against the patient's skin purportedly serves to distract and confuse the patient's nerve functions, thus relieving the pain normally experienced during an injection. This device is not free from shortcomings, however. The device is bulky and cumbersome, requiring two hands to maintain the contact element pressed against the patient's skin while actuating the vibration means to vibrate such contact element. Thus, either an assistant is required to handle the device while the doctor or dentist performs the injection, or the patient must handle the device himself or herself. In addition, the device provides no vibration to the needle itself. As such, it only serves to act upon the surface skin thereby limiting the effectiveness for injections penetrating deeper below the skin.
Another device envisioned to utilize vibration in a medical procedure is an apparatus for inoculation against smallpox and the like. A form of such device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,308,823 to Peterson. This device includes a vaccine dispenser and a separate vibrating needle to serve as a skin scratching mechanism. Thus the vaccine is dispensed in a location on the surface of the patient's skin through the dispenser and the needle vibrated in such spot to create small ruptures thereon so the vaccine may be drawn under the patient's skin. This device, while serving as a surface scratching apparatus, provides no means for deadening the patient's nerves against pain or for injecting a vaccine or other medication deep into a patient's tissue or into a vein or artery and thus is limited in its usefulness.
Yet another device proposed in attempt to alleviate the pain and discomfort associated with injections includes a vibrating casing formed with a central opening and including a pair of connectable straps attached to opposite ends of the casing. The casing is intended to be placed against the patient's skin encircling the area to receive the injection and the straps wrapped about the patient body and connected to hold the casing firmly against the patient's skin. Vibration of the casing purportedly reduces the pain and discomfort typically associated with the injection. This device suffers the shortcoming that it provides no vibration to the needle itself, and thus only acts upon the surface of the skin. In addition, the device may not be efficiently used in connection with injections to be administered inside the mouth, thus severely limiting its use in most dental procedures.
As such, it may be appreciated that there continues to be a need for a vibrating syringe device which is convenient to use and effective to reduce the pain and discomfort associated with injections. There would be substantial benefit in such a device having the characteristic of concealing operation of the plunger from the patient's perception to thereby minimize the patient's apprehension. The instant invention addresses such needs.